


Dragon Shenanigans

by RedKingKelly



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Character tags added by chapter, Fluff, Fluff and Feels, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Natsu is a Cuddler
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-07-18 06:05:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16112393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedKingKelly/pseuds/RedKingKelly
Summary: Various fluffy scenes centered around our favourite dragon slayers! Pointless, plotless, self-indulgent fluff.Chapter 1: Natsu cuddles Laxus. Laxus lets him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place post-Tenroujima, and pre-GMG.

Natsu had always been a cuddler.

It came from having a dragon as a parent; clambering and climbing and cuddling were all part and parcel of having your dad be bigger than most buildings (and also the world's best personal heater). His upbringing, plus his tactile personality, well. The combination was enough to give Natsu no sense of personal space, and a penchant for sudden bursts of physical affection.

Everybody in Fairy Tail knew this. They'd all been on the receiving end of it many times in the past, whether through brawls, casual one-armed hugs, or surprisingly adorable cuddle sessions. However, nothing could have prepared any of them for the sight of Laxus Dreyar sauntering casually into the guild hall, with one sleepy Fire Dragon Slayer dangling on his back.

Literally everyone was gaping.

Lucy, who had barely seen the adorable side of Natsu's tactile nature (but more than enough of the rough, energetic side), couldn't believe her eyes. It had to be a dream; or at least a mass hallucination, going by the rest of the guild members' faces. For one thing (entirely disregarding Natsu's pliant state, and the way he was cuddling into Laxus' neck), there was the fact that Laxus himself was tolerating it.

From behind her, where she was seated at the bar, Lucy could hear Mirajane cooing softly. "Ne, Mira-san," she spoke quietly, hoping to avoid Laxus' sharp gaze. "Has Natsu always been like this with Laxus?"

Twin giggles answered her. Twisting slightly, Lucy saw that Lisanna had crept up to the barstool next to her and joined the eldest Strauss sibling in her cooing.

"Never," Lisanna was the one to reply. "Natsu's always been very physically affectionate, but he tends to brawl as a way to get it out of his system with the guys. And I've never even seen Laxus hug anybody, right, Mira-nee?"

"He does let the Raijinshū hang all over him though." Mirajane pointed out, smiling.

As if on cue, the three mages who loyally followed the master's grandson all crept closer to where Laxus had paused in the middle of the hall, meeting everybody's gobsmacked faces with his own unimpressed expression. The blond man raised an eyebrow at his (ehh, Lucy actually still wasn't sure whether the Raijinshū were his friends, minions, or a mixture of both)  _people_. "What the hell're you all staring at?"

Natsu mumbled something, pressing further into the Lightning Dragon Slayer. Lucy's heart just about exploded with warmth and she hastily repressed the urge to squeal; she didn't want to interrupt this.

"Yo, Laxus, what's up with Natsu?" Bickslow poked curiously at the younger boy. "Why's he sleeping on you like that?"

Laxus shrugged, the boy on his back shifting smoothly with the movement. "Hell if I know. The brat just came up behind me and had the cat dump him on my back. I almost threw him before I realised he was just doing the thing."

The cat? Oh, the cat. Where was the furry blue annoyance anyway?

"That wasn't very nice, Lucy."

Lucy yelped, almost toppling off her stool in surprise. Happy was floating behind her at face level, peering at her with false-hurt on his face. She growled, restraining her urge to smack the feline out of the air; Natsu certainly wouldn't appreciate it if she killed his partner.

"Oh, shut up, you," she snapped at him. "And what does Laxus mean, 'the thing'? What thing?"

Happy side-eyed her like it should have been obvious. "The thing, Lucy," he waved a paw in Laxus' general direction. "The cuddling thing!"

Oh. Yeah, that was pretty obvious, now that she thought about it.

Lisanna giggled, tugging Happy out of the air and into her lap. The cat purred, resting against Lisanna's stomach. "Natsu hasn't done this," she waved a hand at the two dragon slayers. "Very often. But I guess after everything, Natsu just needs the reassurance that Laxus really is back for good."

"He used to do it sometimes when we were brats," Grey said, popping up out of nowhere, sans shirt. Lucy rolled her eyes, wondering when exactly she'd gotten used to the Ice Mage's weird stripping habit. "Whenever Erza or any of the older kids came back from a mission that took longer than expected. He was super clingy for years after he first came here. Now he does it mostly by fighting."

That made a lot of sense, actually.

Lucy hummed, watching as Laxus approached the bar with the Raijinshū trailing behind him. He didn't seem to be paying attention to the extra weight curled around him, moving with his usual smooth grace, but Lucy thought that something about him seemed a little more gentle than usual.

Cana, sitting a few stools down, apparently agreed. She tipped her glass at Laxus, grinning lazily. "You look very cute, Laxus," she told him solemnly. "I didn't think you had it in you."

He scowled and flicked a few sparks of lightning at her. Cana just laughed, throwing back what was left of her beer. "Ne, Mira! Another for me, and one for our adorable sleeping post over here." She winked at him and he rolled his eyes.

"Here you go!" Mirajane placed two full tankards on the bar and slid them to their respective owners. "Cana, your tab's getting up there again, you might want to pay a little off." She smiled sweetly.

Cana gulped. "Sure, Mira."

Laxus laughed, taking a swig of his beer. He had moved aside several stools, leaning against the bar instead of sitting down. Lucy, who hadn't been aware that she even held any kind of grudge against the S-class mage for his actions against Fairy Tail (against  _Natsu_ ), felt the last vestiges of it melt away. The blond man acted careless, but he was being so mindful of the younger mage snuggled against him that it warmed Lucy's heart to see.

She ducked her head, so he couldn't see the way she was smiling; with her luck, Laxus would definitely take offence. But she couldn't help it; even months after joining, Fairy Tail still felt more and more like home every day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set directly after the Tartaros battle.

Wendy was the first one to approach Natsu, after the dragons disappeared.

He had collapsed to his knees after screaming his intentions to the world, staring sightlessly at the sky with eyes full of tears. It tore at Wendy's heart, to see her feckless, courageous teammate looking so lost. Natsu was a force of nature in his own right; it just wasn't right for him to appear like that.

Wendy, who had left Charle to sit with Happy, curled up at her pseudo-brother's side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, face still turned to the stars, and Wendy snuggled eagerly into his warmth. In turn, she wrapped both arms around his waist and squeezed.

"I'm sorry, Natsu-san," she whispered. "Your father was very brave."

Natsu fell back on his butt, pulling Wendy along with him so that she landed half in his lap. She didn't mind. Although she had come over to comfort him, she couldn't deny that the contact was comforting her as well. Natsu's body temperature ran so high that it was almost like cuddling with Grandine.

"It was so short."

The hushed statement was so wounded that tears pricked Wendy's eyes. She knew how he felt.

"It was, wasn't it?" Wendy pushed her face into Natsu's stomach. "All these years, and we only get a few minutes to say goodbye."

Her words came out muffled, but it was no problem for a dragon slayer's hearing.

Natsu stroked the hand that wasn't around her shoulder over her newly-shortened hair. "I'm sorry about your mother, Wendy. She seemed really cool."

A fierce kind of pride lit up in Wendy's chest. Grandine and the others had saved them – had saved all the magic in Fiore. Watching the majesty of dragons in action was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event. Wendy doubted she could ever describe just how awe-inspiring it had been. For as long as she lived, Wendy was certain that she wouldn't ever forget a moment of it.

"Oi, Salamander."

Gajeel stomped up to them and dropped to the ground, arms and legs both crossed tightly. Sting and Rogue followed suit, settling on either side of the Iron Dragon Slayer and completing their little circle. Wendy straightened up so she could see everybody, but stayed leaning into Natsu's side, tucked under his arm.

"Hey, guys. Our parents- our parents are pretty awesome, aren't they?"

Natsu's voice was watery. Wendy squeezed him harder.

"That bastard," Gajeel muttered petulantly. "Hiding away for all this time and then leaving like that. Typical useless asshole."

Despite the rough words, Wendy could see the way his eyes wavered. He'd been strong for her earlier, but losing Metalicana for good this time definitely hurt him just as much as losing Grandine hurt Wendy. She wished she could reach across and offer him the same comfort she was giving Natsu.

"I can't believe they made us think that we killed them," Sting said, looking a little shell-shocked. "When really-" His hand drifted to hover over his chest.

Rogue nodded. "This whole time they were protecting us from something we didn't even know we were in danger from."

Which reminded Wendy-

"Acnologia used to be human. He  _is_  human."

Her tone was blank with shock. It was mind-boggling to the young girl, how a demon like that could have ever been a person. She herself could have turned out the same if Grandine hadn't done what she did.

"He's not," Natsu said, low and fierce. "A Dragon Slayer who bathed in the blood of so many dragons that he ended up in the form of one; sounds like a monster to me."

They all nodded, looking a little sick.

"We'll get him one day."

Gajeel said it, entirely serious and without a hint of bravado. "We can't let that asshole run around doing whatever he wants to the world, right, Salamander?"

Natsu's grip on her shoulder tightened.

"Right."

The mere thought of fighting Acnologia sent terror spiralling through Wendy's gut. But at the same time…

"Together."

She clenched her fists, grim determination somehow settling the swooping in her stomach. The image of Igneel, King of the Fire Dragons, father of one of her greatest friends, falling to the earth with a single black limb in his mouth flashed through her mind.

"For your father, Natsu-san. For a world without that darkness hanging over us. We'll beat him together-WAH!"

For a second or two, Wendy couldn't breathe.

And then Natsu loosened his hold, and she realised they were laying on the ground, with Natsu squeezing the life out of her. She closed her eyes and squeezed him back.

"Hey, don't leave us out."

One after another, three warm bodies piled on top of them (one with considerably more force – and swearing – than the others). Crushed against Natsu's chest with the breath once again knocked out of her, Wendy opened her eyes – and came face to face with a supremely disgruntled Gajeel.

The grinning faces of Sting and Rogue beyond him were enough to tell her what had happened.

Shifting only enough to make breathing easier, Wendy listened contently to Natsu's squawking and Gajeel's grumbling, intermingled with the laughter of Sabertooth's twin dragons. Normally, taking part in a puppy pile like this one would be enough to reduce her to a blushing, stuttering mess.

But right now, with the grief of losing her mother combined with the terrible awareness that she would one day come face-to-face with the greatest monster to ever live, well.

Pressed in at all sides by the solid weight of her fellow dragon slayers – her friends – Wendy felt nothing but comfort.

At some point, Natsu managed to convince the others to roll off of them, and they all ended up in a circle, laying with their heads together and their hands linked, staring up at the stars. Wendy had a vague awareness of Happy and Charle sitting where she had left them, keeping watch while giving the five of them space, for which Wendy was indescribably grateful.

"I'm gonna get stronger," was the last thing Natsu said, iron conviction in his voice. "I'm gonna get stronger, and I'm gonna make sure that nobody ever hurts my nakama again."

Wendy didn't know it at the time, but that memory would be a source of hope and reassurance to her throughout the next year. Even with Fairy Tail disbanded, even with everybody scattered across the continent, there were two things that Wendy Marvell had absolute faith in. One was Charle.

The other was Natsu Dragneel.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place post-OG manga, pre-100 Years Quest.

“Laxus-san!”

“Mm?”

Laxus, who was literally just setting out on another mission (a solo one; he was in the mood for some peace and freakin’ quiet), was almost out of Magnolia when he heard the high-pitched voice calling out to him. He knew that voice, but it was rare that she had the courage to raise it in his direction.

“Heyyy, Laxus!”

Not so the case with that one.

Heaving a sigh, the lightning dragon slayer turned around to face his guildmates. Natsu was grinning as usual, waving his hands like a lunatic. Wendy was more subdued, but even she seemed to have an extra spring in her step as they approached him. Erza, Grey, and Lucy were nowhere to be seen, nor the two cats. Laxus barely spared a thought towards wondering where they were; if he started worrying about that lot, he wouldn’t ever stop.

Bunch of troublemaking problem children.

“Laxus-san, I’m so glad we caught you!” Wendy exclaimed once the distance had closed to mere feet. “Natsu-san and I have something we wanted to give you.”

Wendy’s sweet, earnest smile would crumble a lesser man, Laxus thought wryly. Once she grew up a little more, Natsu and Grey would be beating boys off with a stick (or, more likely, their fists).

“Oh?” He replied, raising an eyebrow. “Presents for me? What brought this on, brats?”

Wendy suddenly seemed to find the ground very interesting, staring down at her shuffling feet with a red face. Natsu, who had never known the feeling of embarrassment, puffed up his chest and laughed.

“Because we’re _nice_ , Laxus,” he said like it was obvious. “We saw something cool on our way back from our last quest and we figured we’d bring it back for ya.” He grinned, looking mighty pleased with himself.

Laxus refused to find it cute.

These sappy kids, they were total pains in the ass. The fact that they had brought something home specifically for him, on a whim, didn’t change that.

“Come on then, what is it?” Laxus asked, holding out one large hand. If it was something that _Natsu_ considered cool, it was probably stupid, but maybe Wendy had influenced him enough that Laxus wouldn’t hate it.

Natsu twisted, detaching something from his pack. Handing it over, Natsu’s grin widened with anticipation. Even Wendy, Laxus noticed as he closed his hand around what turned out to be a small leather sack, was looking up at him expectantly, eyes shining. Despite himself, Laxus felt something in his heart give, softening under the pressure of those eyes.

He heaved a sigh.

“Okay brats, lets see what we have here.” Laxus tugged open the drawstring keeping the sack closed. And then he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing, because coloured light was spilling from the opening, and Laxus just had a _feeling_.

He looked up, locking eyes with Natsu. “Is this-?”

Natsu cracked up. Arms wrapped around his waist, doubled over and leaning on a flustered Wendy for support, merriment dripped from his every pore.

“Snacks!”

Reaching a hand inside and pulling out a small glass jar, Laxus let his amusement escape him, chortling along with the younger dragon slayers. Because, flickering and dancing and sparking in that jar, was a handful of bright yellow lightning. Taking a peek inside the leather sack showed him several more jars containing lightning in all the colours of the rainbow.

“Do you like it?”

Wendy, who was still holding up a cackling Natsu, blinked up at him with shy humour. Laxus snorted and reached out to pat her little blue head. “Yeah brat, I like it.”

Her cheeks flushed a soft pink. “I’m glad. And uh, they are safe to eat. Natsu-san tried one before we bought yours.” Wendy’s bright grin took on a sheepish cast.

Of course he did. Because the _fire_ dragon slayer still had lightning magic running through him, from when the idiot had scarfed down Laxus’ own attack. Still, at least if Natsu was still alive, Laxus could be reassured that he wasn’t going to get poisoned.

Looking at the jar in his hand once again, he noticed for the first time the runes etched into the glass, encircling the neck just under the lid. A quick glance over told him that they were spells for longevity, preservation, and illumination, among others. He raised an eyebrow.

“Are these _nightlights_?”

Natsu, who had finally calmed down some and was hanging off Wendy’s small shoulders drawing in wheezing breaths, lost it again. Laxus watched him fold in on himself so sharply that he dropped to the ground, rolling around like an idiot. He supposed that answered that.

“Uh, we found them in a little magic store in Delphinium,” Wendy said, ignoring her teammate with complete composure. “Lucy-san was looking for more celestial spirit keys and Natsu-san caught sight of these. I uh, I was the one who wondered if they would be edible for you.”

“Ah. And obviously, Natsu had to give it a shot.”

“Well- yes.”

Laxus eyeballed the lightning flashing in the little jar. It was cute, clever magic, he had to admit. Kids probably loved them. And, depending on the mage who made them, these jars could turn out to be highly convenient snacks for hungry (or magic deficient, rare though that was) dragon slayers.

Mentally shrugging, Laxus unscrewed the lid. Sparks immediately flew from the top, skittering along Laxus’ wrist before disappearing. They sank into his skin, warm and a little bit fizzy. Nothing like real lightning, or even Laxus’ own magic, but pleasant, nonetheless. Definitely edible. Possibly even enjoyable.

Only one way to find out.

He raised the jar and tipped the contents down his throat.

Sweet. That was the first thing Laxus noticed. The lightning cavorted eagerly on its way to his stomach, excitable and rich. It was a taste completely foreign to natural lightning, which Laxus actually had tasted - during a quest; _long_ story - and couldn’t describe as anything but electrifying (pardon the pun). It was good though. Although not the most powerful lightning magic he had ever consumed, it was energising in its own way. Like little sugar bombs.

The brats had done well.

Maybe Wendy could tell what he was thinking, because her face lit up like the sun. She giggled, clapping her hands together in front of her chest. “I’m so happy you like it, Laxus-san! We’ll have to pick up some more the next time we go through Delphi.”

Delphinium was close to the southern coastline of Fiore. Fairy Tail mages didn’t get a lot of reason to travel down that way since Lamia Scale was the local guild, but Natsu and them were always all over the place. Laxus didn’t doubt that he would have a steady supply of nightlights to snack on now that the brats knew he liked them.

Sentimental little shits.

Maybe Laxus would indulge Natsu in a rematch. Just so the brat couldn’t say that Laxus never did anything for him.

“Hey! Maybe she could make some for us too!” Natsu bounced back to his feet, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Probably not for Gajeel, but iron’s easy to get a hold of anyway.”

And _air_ wasn’t?

Ignoring the brats’ musings, Laxus dropped a hand on each of their heads. They paused, tilting their heads at him inquisitively.

“….thanks.”

Dazzling grins lit up their faces and they exchanged glances. Laxus had barely a second of warning before he was flat on his back with two miniature dragon slayers draped all over him. He grunted, rolling his eyes exasperatedly. Shaking one hand free of long blue hair and tugging the other from under Natsu’s pointy elbow, Laxus patted his guildmates on the back (one significantly harder than the other).

“Okay, okay, I get it. But get off me, I’m supposed to be going a job.”

Natsu’s pink head popped up from where he had been mushing it into Laxus’ clavicle. “Have fun, Laxus! Enjoy your snacks!”

Wendy propped herself up on Laxus’ ribs, smiling down at him for once. “See you when you get back!”

“Yeah, whatever.”

The three of them got to their feet and Laxus gave their hair one last appreciative ruffle. The younger dragon slayers waved him off cheerily when he turned to go, inspiring one last spark of warmth in Laxus’ chest.

Maybe he would just _happen_ to find something cool to bring home with him.


End file.
